In new research published by Economic Modelling, PERI economist Heidi Garrett-Peltier develops a model to compare employment impacts of clean energy versus fossil fuels investment. The author builds an input-output model to create "synthetic" industries to estimate job creation relative to investment in alternative energy sectors. The research finds that for every $1 million invested, 7.72 clean energy jobs are created as compared to 2.65 fossil fuel jobs. Thus, each $1 million shifted from dirty to clean energy yields a net increase of 5 jobs. This amounts to a 250 percent increase in U.S employment from clean energy investments relative to maintaining the existing fossil-fuel dominant energy infrastructure.

PERI researchers Jim Boyce and Michael Ash released a new edition of the Toxic 100 index, ranking U.S. corporate air and water polluters. The index is based on the newest data from EPA analysis of air and water releases of hundreds of chemicals from thousands of industrial facilities across the U.S. Topping the list of air polluters are Alcoa and Dupont corporations. Topping the list of water polluters are Dow Chemical and American Electric Power. The Toxic 100 Air Index also includes an environmental justice report card: the extent to which air pollution burdens are imposed disproportionately on minority and low-income communities.

Robert Pollin and Brian Callaci develop a Just Transition framework for U.S. workers and communities that are currently dependent on domestic fossil fuel production. Their rough high-end estimate for this program is a relatively modest $600 million per year. Combining all fossil fuel and ancillary industries, they show that 83% of anticipated job losses can be covered through attrition-by-retirement. It proposes reemployment guarantees in the growing clean energy industries for the remaining 17% of workers. The $600 million annual budget covers: 1) income, retraining and relocation support for workers in new jobs; 2) pension guarantees; and 3) transition programs for fossil-fuel dependent communities.

Big Finance’s destructive practices and the overcharging of customers will have cost the U.S. economy between $12.9 and $22.7 trillion by 2023. A new report by the Roosevelt Institute co-authored by PERI’s Gerald Epstein and Juan Antonio Montecino estimates these costs by analyzing three components: 1) rents, or excess profits; 2) mis-allocation costs and 3) the costs of the 2008 financial crisis. The authors describe mechanisms finance uses to pocket these rents and suggest policies to reduce these high costs and to reform the financial sector to play a more productive role in society.